Ice-cream man

I like to buy ice cream from an ice-cream man who drives around the neighbourhood on his motor tricycle with a beach umbrella or a van. Again, an old trade that has been existing for many many years.

A dollar each and consumer can decide to wrap the ice cream with a slide of colourful bread or two crispy biscuits or just in a cup. I prefer eating it with bread or biscuit. The ice-cream usually comes in a few favors namely red bean, sweet corn, strawberry, vanilla and chocolate. The ice-cream man will ring his bell to announce his arrival and to attract people to patronize his mobile stall, especially the kids and students.

Instead of buying and keeping a box of ice-cream at home and be stuck with the only favor for awhile, I prefer buying it from the ice-cream man - economical, fresh and with more choices. Another reason is the thrill of running into one unexpectedly, to consider myself lucky to come across one :-) A dollar's joy and enjoyment is comparable, if not better than, having it in Swensen, Hagen Daz or Ben & Jerry's.

There was once that I ran into an ice-cream man in the car park after work. I was happy and prepare to buy one to enjoy it. When I approached the ice-cream man, he was smoking while ringing the bell for business. Though he was smiling at me, the unhealthy and dirty image was just undesirable and killed my excitement or urge to buy an ice-cream from him. The second hand smoke is not good for anyone especially the kids and he is not considerate about it. Another piss-off experience is you are about to rest and read at 10.30pm when you hear the ice-cream man ringing for business. It is a sharp noise in a peaceful night.

Other than the above two not welcoming situations, I am always thrill enough to run into them unexpectedly.

Kanaguni business

Kanaguni - someone who buys over 2nd hand or unwanted household items such as old newspaper/magazines, clothings, fan, television set, radio set, VCD/DVD player, computer monitor etc at the neighbourhood. In return, he or she will then sell it to a collector or an organization for a profit.

It is a old trade that has been in existence for many many years, properly an early version of a recycling programme. When I was young, the kanaguni will move from floor to floor, door to door shouting for business and service. If you have some of the unwanted houeshold items to sell, just open the door and wait for him or her. They will weigh (eg. for old newspaper/magazines/clothings) and pay you on the spot.

Nowadays, they will park their vehicle at the carpark and horn for business and service. They rarely move from floor to floor, door to door. Instead, they move from block to block. It is more economical and less traveling but can cause much noise at the neighbourhood espeically in a peaceful and relaxing afternoon watching a movie or taking a nap at home. :-( Of course, they will drop by your doorstep if u have something for them.

However, there also seem to be another group of kanaguni who will seek out valuable items directly from the shared dustbin area at the void deck. They will ride a bicycle to look for items that are deemed valuable from the dustbin from block to block, day and night. The group seems to come from mainly the senior citizen and foreign workers. While I am encouraged by their action to find a decent way to fend for themselves, many is not very considerate and responsible by making a mess out of it at the common area. They will seek out the valuable items and expect the cleaning personnel to clear up the mess for them next day. Meanhwile, residents have no choice but just have to bear with it.

The old trade has survived by transforming itself in its business operation approach. However, we are definitely still very far from establishing a gracious society whereby we care not only of one self but also others and in this aspact, not to inconvenience others and to show respect of the used of the common space we all share.

Is that so difficult to execrise ?

They grow up so fast

The following case study or example was shared when I was attending a training programme recently:

Sam lives in a 4-room HDB flat with his wife and 3 kids. They are generally a happy family except that every day after work, when Sam comes home, the entire living room and walkway is covered with the children's toys. He always has to put the toys away before he can walk through the living room to reach his bedrrom. he tried reminding, telling, scolding the kids but it was no us.

One day, after a long and tiring work day, Sam came home and found the childrem's bicycles, barbie dolls, transformers, power ranger, Lego sets etc thrown all over the entire living room, blocking his path to the bedroom.

He was so angry with the children that he forgot to close his door. He started to put the toys away and was so engrossed in it that he did not notice that his neighbor, Mr Tan, had came in to help to pick up the toys. Mr Tan youngest daughter had just got married a few weeks ago and had moved out of the house. He had not had a chance to see her after her wedding.

When Sam realized that Mr Tan was picking up the toys after him, he was embarrassed and said "I'm sick of cleaning up after these kids."

Mr Tan said "I hope you don't mind me helping. I miss doing this now that my daughter has grown up and gone. You should enjoy it while it lasts. Your children will be gone before you know it. They grow up so fast."

.....

It is a simple story but with a great insight. As a father myself, I totally agree with Mr Tan. I also see Sam in myself.

Fortunately, I am more aware of it than Sam and has enjoyed the noise, nonsense, etc my daughter has created as part of her growing up. At times, it is not easy to accommodate such behavior and a need to discipline her. It is better to get on her right track early.

Well, discipline should not cause an oversight over her uniqueness and appreciating her true natural originality - the way she talks, smiles, laughs, angers, eats, sleeps, learns, plays, sees things around her. It is, indeed, a master piece of Arts. Good or bad, she also inherited some of your genes, not all her fault.

To me, the keyword here is appreciating. Be part of her growing up.

Books and Reading Journey

I like books and enjoy reading, properly a habit cultivated since young.

I started reading Chinese books with heavy comic content initially and gradually with more text as I got to recognize more Chinese characters and phrases. These Chinese books were well known classic titles such as "Journey to the West", "Romance of The Three Kingdoms", "Water Margin" etc. I could read them repeatedly. Of course, I also read translated fairy tales, life and contribution of famous individuals such as Edison, Newton, Colombia etc. All with very interesting content. My parent bought some to share and mostly borrowed from the library.

My first English title was "The Famous Five" - adventurous story. However, I have to refer to English-to-Chinese dictionary regularly in order to understand the readings. Partly to learn the language as well. Hence, I would take more time to finish reading a book.

My first and only collection then was the story of Sherlock Holmes. My aunty bought it for me from the Golden Plaza or better known as Little Bangkok. I was very happy as I have been enjoying the story but I was also very sacred at the same time as my parent would blame me for wasting the money over useless title, according to their standard.

My reading list expanded as I grow up to also include the Chinese Martial Arts Novel mainly authored by Jin Yong （金庸）. Jin Yong had written many titles and his works is very well known among the youth and adults. Some of the titles were filmed as movies and drama series closely followed by many individuals. There is a saying that where ever there is a Chinese community, you will be sure the existence of his loyal readers and fans.

I actually slowed down my regularly reading habit very much during the later part of my study and army time and resumed shortly after started to work. By then, I was more interested to read English books especially those on business, management as well as technology stuff. Most of my basic IT knowledge and skills were acquired then. One of my favorite reads was books on Bill Gates. I have learned much from the readings. Bill Gates became my Super Hero till now.

Two major changes were obvious, I began to read more magazines and began to buying more books & magazines than borrowing it - the beginning of building my library at home, subtly. I also learn to subscribe some of the magazines.

Years of experience make me realized that it is not so economical to buy technology books as it evolves rapidly, definitely much faster than my reading speed. The concept of management is pretty much the same, most importantly is one's ability to apply it timely and appropriately to create the desired result. The easily access and availability of Internet and richness of its content form good alternative resources. Amazon.com appears as one of my favorite websites. Gone the days of busy buying. I am a mellow shopper now. I visit library regularly again.

It's kind of funny, I am back to reading more Chinese books nowadays. Partly I am comparatively stronger in the language. Partly there are more available contemporary titles, English books are translated faster, better and cheaper. Instead of the classic titles, I read more about history and philosophy stuff. Since I enjoy traveling, I have collected more travel related books and magazines especially those in Asia version or edition.

Indeed, I already have a private library at home with a good spread of subjects and titles to meet my reading needs. What makes it more satisfactory is that it also has many books, both English and Chinese, that my daughter owns and enjoys readings. She inherits the story where I started many years ago though very differently. I hope that she will continue the journey with or without us around. It is definitely a journey that worth taking as a lifelong joy.

Ha...ha...ha...

Car washing service

Woke up in the middle of the night to washroom. Took a peep out of the window to check if it was raining. No rain but saw a man with a bicycle washing a car at the carpark downstairs. Very curiously, I stayed at the window for awhile more trying to figure out the driver.

Actually, he was not the driver. He makes a living by providing car washing service in the neighbourhood. A tall, skinny and friendly gentleman. He rides around with a pail of water, looking and waiting for car to be back and wash it. I think I have his promotional leaflet - A5 size, single coloured print or photo-copied. S$30 per month from Monday to Friday, rain or shine. Not expensive, S$1.50 a day though I did not engage his service at the moment. No particular reason.

I am not sure if he is doing it as a full time job or just a sideline to make some extra money. Either way, I respect him greatly. There are many people who are just like him, to work day and night to keep a decent living, there are also many who just dun bother to help themselves but reply on borrowing, conning, seeking undeserving help from various sources to past time. Worst if the person has an abled body and mind. A disgrace to themselves.

Life must has been hard on him if not why the need to wash someone's car at such an hour. But he lives to be his best possible and not yield to it. He also committed to his promise to wash it once a day, rain or shine at S$30 a month.

Come to think about it, I feel ashame that I am not quite friendly to him at times when his bicycle is blocking my way in the carpark though I do not horn at him. I have to practise and master more about appreciating and accommodating - as a way of life. Showing of respect goes beyond words.

Once upon a time (2)

I dun like to cut hair when I was young.

Not only that the uncle cutting my hair was not so friendly, but equally important was that my mum wanted me to keep very short hair style ie botak. Looking back now, I can understand why she insisted it that way - neat, clean, cooling and helped to save some money since I did not have to visit the barber so regularly.

My classmates would always tease me and called me botak head. They would laugh about it and I did not enjoy it very much. In fact, I was the rarely few with the botak hair style in class and properly in school. I could not carry with me a comb which was a trend then. :-(

To manage my expectation and objection, my mum would tell the uncle to have a long botak hair style for me. Any difference ? Ha...ha...ha..., not much but at least better than being botak.

Not sure if the experience had affected me silently, I prefer to keep my hair very short since the army time and now I am back to botak style again with no choice- fulltime, 24 x 7 :-)

At times, my daughter's classmates would call me botak uncle when I fetch her home after school. They seem fascinated and curious about it. 1 to 2 asked me why I have no hair and pretty bothered by it.

Some days, somehow they will know why. Ha...ha...ha...

Mahjong

I started to play Mahjong again,

I stopped playing it totally many years ago not only because I was losing much money then but most importantly, lost all the tuition fee that I had earned for a month service to a student. It was just unbelieveable while I walked home that night or rather in a wee hours after the game. Anyway, no bus and train service at the odd hours and also no money to take a cab. :-(

I learn to play mahjong since young by watching how my relatives play and learning it gradually along the way. It is a very addictive game. Players need to think and adopt best possible moves as well as what other may have in mind. Having good tiles does not mean that you will win for sure. More often than not, the game lasts for hours. At times, to order supper as the game continues. I enjoyed the small talk and accompany during the mahjong session. I hate when the game turns ugly over money. Whether winning or losing, players are bound to feel tired after the game, both physically and mentally.

Senior citizens are encouraged to play mahjong to keep one's mind active and alert. However, suggested to play it in a "healthy" or decent manner ie not much money or no money involved. It is definitely a good mean to past time, catching up with friends and just gossiping.

I feel that I am much skillful now as compare then. Winning most of the time, involving a few hundreds / thousand dollars. :-) Are you game enough to join me ?

See you online over iPhone
Ha...ha...ha...

History seems to unfold itself again. My daughter is eager to participate when I play mahjong on the iPhone. I will get her to throw out unwanted tiles. The same way my aunty told me a few decades ago.

Once upon a time ......

I used to stay in a rented flat many years ago. It has one bed room, a living room, toilet/bathroom and a kitchen. Small area but enough to meet daily needs. There were four of us in the family. I was the living room captain.

One of the unique features of the structure was that there was no windows at the kitchen area. It was an open concept built with iron bars from top to bottom. To sun or rain block, household has to install own canvas. However, it was very windy day and night. Good view of the outside world. Being a little naughty child, I would place one of my legs out in-between the gap of the bars. The love language used then was caning and scolding. I would considered myself lucky as caning was rarely used on the children in the family.

My favorite moment was when it rained, especially the heavy rain type. Even with canvas, the kitchen area would not only be wet but the best of it, flooded :-) Both my mum and myself would be pretty busy - my mum moving items that could be damaged by the water quickly while I looked for papers to make paper boats. The love language was not quite effective as I could hardly hear what my mum was saying. Anyway, she has more things to worry than those sailing paper boats. Cheers !

While my mum was patiently clearing the mess and praying for the rain to stop,
I was chanting
rain, rain, stay with me
rain, rain come again
Ha..ha..ha..

Boutique Hotel

I like the idea of staying in a boutique hotel whenever I travel for leisure. Though it has existed for years, I am more for it recently as I feel that the offering is generally much better.

Boutique hotel tends to be smaller in size and hence fewer guests in total. Check-in, check-out and breakfast sessions are more enjoyable. At the same time, staff is able to provide more personalized services for the guests whenever there are requests. The reception counter is well organized, designed and staffed.

The room is usually modernly designed with good colour combination + creative lightnings, cosy & clean environment, stuff with more current and useful gadgets such as LCD tv, a good range of international & local tv programmes, DVD player, free wi-fi internet connection, jacuzzi in bathroom, coffee/tea set and comfortable bedding. My recent stay in Taipei also find well packaged condom as part of the room amenities list.

Some added services include free usage of laundry equipment (eg. washing machine, dryer etc) for guests, kitchenette to do some simple cooking (or warming) etc. Of course, it can be quite expensive to stay in a boutique hotel and comparable to a 5-star hotel. My recent research suggested that Taiwan offers more competitive boutique hotel rates - pretty affordable in good location (ie walking distance to train station and surrounded by places to dine and shop). Hong Kong is quite expensive.

Consider staying in a boutique hotel especially if you are visiting Taiwan. :-)

Children's Day 2010

Children's Day is also becoming Parents' Day. As all primary schools and childcare centres will not be operating on 1st October, parents may have to be on leave to take care of them. In fact, some make it a family day to shop, dine, watch movie/performance and having a fun day together. For organizations that wanted to be acknowledged as pro-family or having worklife balance, much flexibility is shared with staff. Some even organized activities at the company level for the staff's children.

It has been years since I had my Children's Day. Not much celebration other than those programmes and gifts organized by the school. Nothing special about it. Nothing bad about it too.

Since the Day is meant for the children, I would prefer letting the children to organize a fun and relaxing moments with their friends out of the usual places. As long as it is a healthy, decent and safe programme, give the children the space, freedom to go wild with it. Afterall, they can only be a child for a few years.

I also celebrated it today by having a strawberry sundae after my lunch. :-)

"Huh ? I though you are already a junior Senior Citizen ?"

Yes, I am. But I am also young at heart. Happy Children's Day :-)
Ha...ha...ha... Cheers !

5 years old

谨卉 (Jillian) is 5 years old now.
Celebrated with her a few days.

Had a dinner at Swensen and enjoyed her favourite ice-cream. She has been celebrating her birthday at the Swensen every year.

Brough her to Universal Studio Singapore to take photos with different characters, taking a few rides and watching some performance.

She also had a simple birthday party at the childcare center with her classmates. A few days before the party, we went to shop for items for the goodies bags to be given to her friends. She packed it happily with her mum.

Will be bringing her to watch the Korean's musical performance, Nanta, at Esplanade a few days later. Just wanted to expose her to different Arts and be entertained by the International group.

Most importantly, wish her healthy, happy and enjoy every minutes in life :-)
Cheers !

Setting good example

While I was driving and approaching a major traffic junction, saw an uncle cycling and likely to cross the road using the zebra-crossing. Based on past experience, I was quite sure he would cycle across. I slowed down in case he "decided" to rush across it. However, the uncle stopped cycling, alighted and pushed his bicycle while using the zebra-crossing. I was surprised. He was doing the right thing and setting a good example of safe cycling while on the move. Yet, it was rarely observed most of the time.

I am not sure if you realize it, we live in an environment showing more negative rather than positive examples. One good and typical example is the use of traffic light. Pedestrians of all ages seem to "enjoy" crossing a road whenever there is no traffic even though it is still displaying the stop red-man-light sign. Cyclists too.

Maybe the persons have an urgent matter to attend to, maybe it is going to rain. maybe the bus is approaching, maybe just dun want to appear stupid waiting for it especially when there is no sign of cars, maybe impatient, maybe .....maybe life is just too long to live on ?

I am more worried about the messaging to the young ones. While we are trying to educate them the proper behavior in school and at home, we are setting wrong example when it comes to practical. The worst of it is that there are many more examples besides using of traffic light such as smoking, talking loudly when using a mobile phone, cut queue, not showing the basic respect, telling lairs, rude etc.

Educating and bringing up the young ones is like doing a cha cha, three steps forward follows by two steps backward. A wrong twist could cause much unhappiness and pain.

Amazing and refreshing read on being a tour guide

I come across a Chinese book accidentally titled as "教我如何不宰你", I translated it as "How not to slaughter you alive".

The book was published in 2006 on traveling but focused on tour guide. Not how to be one but the dark and ugly side of being a tour guide as a profession. The author is from China and he has been a tour guide for more than 10 years.

The author shared much detailed happenings from his vast experience on the dilemma, challenges, unfairness, and difficulties in managing travelers in a tour group, bus driver, services providers and travel agency. Pretty amazing and refreshing read. Based on his sharing, it is definitely very pressuring and unpleasant to be a tour guide, in particularly, in China and leading a China tour group.

The main source of all these rooted to the fact of charging too low or no fees at all of joining a tour group. At the macro level, the governance system is not good enough to facilitate a healthy development of the industry. The result of it is that the tour guide has to coax or "force" travelers to buy more and to visit more factory outlets to meet the expected "quota" to cover the cost of the trip and even to make money for the agency. At the same time, the tour arrangement may have to reduce or cut cost on food, accommodation, itinerary etc. The whole travel experience is affected with complains, unhappiness and at times, violence. Tour guide does not has a basic salary and for those few that have it, they are expected to help out in the agency when there is no assignment. If anything happens, tour guide has to bear the consequences fully.

It's sad to read about it. Traveling is suppose to be fun, enjoyable, safe and happy. But it may not be case if joining a tour group. Though I would prefer planning my own trip and I do most of my overseas holiday, I have also joined tour group on a few occasions.

The best was the one that I went to Tokyo. The tour guide was a lady and she was experienced enough to conduct a meaningful and pleasant trip throughout the journey. At least I din feel that I was "forced" to accept or visiting nonsense places or the need to buy stuff. :-) The other few, something did happen along the way though we all managed to complete it satisfactorily. The general rule seems to be avoiding budget tour package especially to China as visitors are "expected" to buy, to be surprised with changes and properly a mismatch of delivery of services and products.

If you are interest, click "教我如何不宰你" to read and to learn more about life as a China tour guide.

We will always be left with a year of challenges

Human's development is really amazing. My daughter is coming to 5 years old soon and some of the improper behavior seems to disappear gradually and naturally.

We used to prompt her to sit down and tuck in together many times during meal time, whether it is at home or eating out. Most of the time, she will just try to take some and left much for us to feed her when we have finished ours. In the past few weeks, we observe that she is able to sit down and finish most of the food before starting to get  naughty again. Hence, it is much more enjoyable now and can engage her better over meal rather than being angry with her for not wanting to eat and finish it.

A the moment, her favourite food is egg, sausages, fried chicken, broccoli, butter, cheese, instant noodle and dessert especially the chocolate favor. And she does not like to have gravy to go with her rice. I always like to say that 5 years old solves the 4 years old challenges. We will always be left with a year of challenges to guide her along the way. Most importantly is to have the patient to live with it for the year long before the challenges are kind of addresses gradually and naturally.

Ha...ha...ha...

Arrival of iPad

It was reported in today's newspaper that Apple announced the availability of iPad in 9 more cities, including Singapore. Finally, it is here for sales from this Friday, 23 July 2010 onwards.

The retail prices area as follow:
For wifi only version - S$728 for 16GB, S$878 for 32GB and S$1,028 for 64GB and
For wifi + 3g version - S$928 for 16GB, S$1,078 for 32GB and S$1,228 for 64GB.

Basically, S$200 more for 3g version. It is a bit more than what I have budgeted for it but cheaper than those availability earlier through parallel import which was selling around S$1,900 per unit.

iPad will be selling through its authorized dealers and not the telcos. However, the telcos will be providing data plan for it. Well, will wait for awhile before buying one to play with it :-)

First time as a Model

Sent my daughter to the Child Care Centre this morning as usual. When we reached, she spotted the centre's brochure with her photo on its frontpage.

She was surprised and happy about it :-) We were more surprise than her. Ha...ha...ha....Come to think of it, this is the first time she poses as a model "commercially". Actually, the photo was taken when the class was having an activity.

<------------ She is smiling brightly here

Very soon, she will be leaving the centre and moving on to a new stage of life as a primary school pupil. ;-)

My top 10

You may aware of a book titled as "1,000 places to see before you die". I am sure everyone will be delighted to visit 1,000 places globally before exiting from the stage. Unfortunately, we all also know that it is not possible :-( The 2nd best possible way is to identify what one's feel is worth visiting / doing and plan out the schedule year after year. My top 10 in the wish list (not in order of preference) at the moment is as follow

- The Silk Road;
- Samba Festival in Brazil;
- Egypt;
- Xi'an;
- Hokkaido;
- Tibet;
- New York;
- Switzerland ;
- Trekking Mt Fuji;
- Safari in South African;

In addition, I will be revisiting some of the countries / places on top of the list above as there is still room for further exploration and engaging in various interesting activities (eg. skiing in South Korea). Resources is, indeed, running short and tight.

I am planning my this year end holiday now. Destination - Melbourne.

Taiwan Trip 2010 - Restaurant 青叶

Quite a number of exciting food in Taiwan can be found along the street and night markets. Hence, we din go to restaurants for most of our meals during the 9 days holiday except two meals, one dinner in 青叶 and one lunch in 鼎泰丰. Both can be considered Taiwan's icon especially the 鼎泰丰 which has ventured out to other countries such as Singapore, Hong Kong, China and Malaysia.

青叶 provides Taiwan Cuisine (ie 台菜 or 台湾料理). It is one of the oldest brand. It also happened that the restaurant was pretty near to where we were staying ie walking distance, that we decided to give it a try. :-)

What did we order for dinner ?

- 九孔 (Abalone, cold dish)
- 乌鱼子 (BBQ fish egg or Mullet Roe)
- 菜莆蛋 (Fried egg with caipu)
- 豆腐 (Bean curd)
- 地瓜粥 (Plain porridge with sweet potato).

What excited us most is the 九孔 and 乌鱼子.

乌鱼子 is Taiwan local specialty. You eat together with slides of radish and onion to reduce its salty taste due to seasoning and fishy smell. I was quite hesitated to try it as I am very afraid of fishy smell. Hence, I started with a small bite initially. Well, not too bad and it tasted like cheese. ;-)

What is so special about 九孔 is the sauce. It blends with the abalone very well. I was surprised of the abalone size, bigger than I though it would be.

Though the other three dishes were more commonly known, the 菜莆蛋 tasted very nice and professional done. I enjoyed it very much. The porridge itself was also an excellent dish. I can just eat it plainly without the need to order dishes.It was served warmly, not too cold or hot. It was very tasty and well cooked. Simple yet a great dish.

The service was pretty good. Staff was attentive and polite. We ended the dinner with a complimentary dessert, warm green bean soup. Half of the total bill went for the 乌鱼子. Overall, it was much cheaper as compared to eating it locally at 欣叶, another Taiwan's brand but has ventured out. We had a nice, full and enjoyable dinner. Will go again when i next visit Taiwan. There are still a few dishes yet to try it out.

See u again, 青叶

Taiwan Trip 2010 - Shifen

One of the common and interesting places to go when visiting Taiwan is Jiufen (九份). In fact, most of the time, it means Jiufen old street whereby visitors will walk through with many stalls selling different products and accessories.

There is also another interesting place but less commonly considered especially if you are in a tour group. The place is called Shifen (十份). It is located along the Pinxi (平溪）sub-railway trail. Three activities to consider in Shifen: release sky-lantern (天灯）, natural waterfall （十份瀑布）and the small town itself. Though a small town, it is a place with characters: peaceful, simple and naturally beautiful.

The buildings and shops are arranged along the railway track. All activities also happen along the railway track. It's a pretty unique experience. Nobody will dominate it but gracefully co-exist with each other. No fast food chain, no Starbucks and no shopping centre. Just a few coffee shop selling drinks and local food. Simple lifestyle. In addition, the place is clean. No odd smell.

Most visitors will likely to engage in releasing the sky-lantern here. NT$100 each (about S$4.50). you write and draw your best wishes on it before releasing it. Great feeling to see one lantern raising one after another.

Photos will tell you much more about it :-)
Besides Shifen, you can also release sky lantern at the Pinxi station, 2 stations away from Shifen. Accordingly to news reporting, it was very very crowded on the 15th day of the Chinese New Year as many people will travel to Pinxi to release sky lanterns as part of the celebration. I am sure thousands of sky lanterns would have scattered and brightened the sky with marvelous view.

Along the way, we ran into two couples taking their wedding photo around the area. It is, indeed, a very nice and unique place to be considered for it.

Though the signage shows that it takes 22 minutes to walk from the train station to the waterfall, it will likely to take 30 minutes or more per way. It can be quite a challenging walk out in the nature, sweaty. However, the waterfall is worth a view. :-) The only "complaint" that I have is  the need to pay for an entrance fee to see it as it is managed by a private organization.

The visit to Shifen give me a pretty refreshing view of Taiwan as it has much more to offer than just shopping, night markets, street food etc. How to go toShifen ? Take a train from Taipei Main Station to Rueifang (瑞芳）station. Buy a unlimited day ride along the Pinxi line. Shifen is just one of the few stations along the Pinxi line. You can also visit the other stations along the way. The most important thing to look out for is the arriving time of the train as it will be at least an hour of waiting if u miss it. Ha...ha...ha...

What I am looking forward in July 2010

Wow, times is flying fast and we are already started July 2010, the beginning of the second half of the year.

For me, I am looking forward the appearance of iPad locally in July. Ever since I started to use the iPhone, I am sure the iPad is able to meet my expectation. I would like to use it as an educational device for my daughter. The screen is bigger enough to facilitate her learning through games and story books. For example, the crossword or find words game. The game is not so easy to read from an iPhone.

The other beauty of it is using it to read ebook. However, I hope that there will be more Chinese books available as I access more Chinese books nowadays. iPad will also provide a better viewing of photos and movies together with my daughter. Hope that it will be bundle with a good package when it finally launches here.

The only challenge is that moving around with an iPad. It can be a bit bulky. Ha...ha...ha...

Taiwan Trip 2010

Had a fruitful and fun Taiwan trip. Done much research for the 9 days holiday. In summary, we have done the following:

(a) Visited 5 night markets: 士林夜市，师大夜市，六合夜市，南华夜市，基隆庙口夜市;

(b) Travel around using the MRT （捷运）, Highspeed train （高铁）, local train （台铁), taxi, as well as local buses （客运） to many places (both the city as well as country side);

(c) Stayed in three hotels in total. Enjoyed very much what the boutique hotel is able to provide + great services;

(d) A lot of shopping. Bought much stationery and 30 Chinese books and DvDs;

(e) Something that is pretty unique - 放天灯;

(f) Abler to watch the World Cup everyday. All the daily 3 matches were available live in all the hotels that we had stayed in with no extra cost;

(g) Tried many food from the street, 便当 in train as well as in a restaurant;

However, we just manage to cover a small percentage of what Taiwan is offering. Will definitely visit Taiwan again to explore other interesting places, soon :-)

PGE (3)

The office is eventually undergoing some renovation to have more meeting rooms assigning it to all the standing committees ie building a home base for the committees. At the same time, the 17 Officers will no longer having a table space of their own. In replacement, they will be using the hot-desking space to work when they are back to office and a cubicle to store their own stuff in office. There were a few sharing and discussion sessions before the arrangement is made.

Is the arrangement necessary ?

Giving each standing committee a meeting room is likely to be underutilized. The members are all volunteers and are working in different professions. It has been a great challenge to involve all to attend meetings due to individuals' different busy work schedules. At times, some of these meetings are scheduled out of office to better facilitate the members. I am wondering by assigning each committee a meeting room and naming it after the committee will help in addressing the challenge or making them feel more comfortable as part of the family.

On the other hand, by removing an individual's table space, I feel that it is less about removing a physical space but  more about reducing one's sense of belonging to the organization or being part of the family. It may work against the effort to building a stronger and functional team. On top of the core duty to perform, these 17 Officers have the important role in connecting and facilitating various tasks at the community level, the arrangement may make some feel the disillusion or confusion over their identity and the "real" important per said.

There are positive value in rolling out PGE. In fact, it has been given much hype at different levels. The 17 Officers were also chosen to lead in fulfilling the PGE and defining its success. We have been wondering the reason(s) over the lacking of enthusiasm among the 17 Officers.

Maybe we have overlooked the importance of the psychological aspect of these individuals and collectively their identity as staff of the organization. Maybe there is also a missing delivery to better match the shared message and actual experience of the 17 Officers in the office. The 2nd phase of promoting some of the better performance among the 17 Officers may work against rather than enhancing the spirit of the 17 Officers.

Maybe ...... maybe they just need more time to adjust and adapt to the new role and arrangements, I see faces of unhappiness, no choice but just do it and lost when they enter into the office.

"Where is my table and where do I go now ?"

Cholesterol

I have a high cholesterol level for many years. It was first flagged when I happen to join in a health screening activity organized by one of the RCs in the neighbourhood. The result was kind of a surprise to me as I dun consume much seafood especially the shell type food. Either I have consumed other food that may have contributed to the high level without me realizing or genetically inclined. Either way, I have to face it squarely that I have a high cholesterol level.

I do not go on any medication since then thinking that I can manage it by adjusting my lifestyle and doing more exercise regularly. However, the cholesterol level is still high after so many years. Recently, I was considering a new insurance package and went for a blood test as arranged by the insurance company. My family GP highlighted the risk to me again and suggested strongly that I go for medication treatment. If not, I will have a very high chance of having a heart problem earlier than I could have expected. The medication will likely to delay it and manage the level within a acceptable level.

I decided to be on medication as i dun want a heart problem earlier than I could have expected. I still want to try many nice food and traveling to many more places. Ha...ha...ha...

Most importantly, I dun want to burden my daughter too much when I aged. Being the only kid at home, it will be very stressful for her to manage two elderly. Stressful in terms of having to worry for us, finding and balancing time to take care of the parent/work/study and to manage it financially. To reduce those likely challenges for her, I have to be more responsible now to keep my health as normal as much as possible.

At the moment, I am taking one tablet everyday before I sleep. Accordingly to the GP, I am likely to continue the medication until 1 reach 1,000 years old. Ha...ha...ha...Come to think about it, am i doing it for myself or for my daughter ? Does it matter anymore ? Either way, I have to face it squarely that I have a high cholesterol level. I just have to deal with it and live with it, right ?

Taiwan trip in June 2010

After a few weeks of sourcing and planning, I have drafted out the programme to Taiwan in June 2010.

The focus will still be shopping and eating and not so much on visiting various scenery in Taiwan. Though I use the word Taiwan, we only visiting Taipei and Kaohsiung. Will leave the rest of Taiwan to future package tour.

Added Kaohsiung as I feel that it maybe too long to stay 9 days in Taipei itself. Will be using the Taiwan High Speed Railway from Taipei to Kaohsiung (高铁). Pretty excited over it though it is nothing new. Will reserve the tickets online prior to leaving for Taipei. Will visit a few night markets in both cities and try out as many local food as possible. I have already identified a few books to buy from the trip. Instead of staying in a typical hotel, we have opted for boutique hotel. It comes with a modern and cosy feel, facilities and stay. Another thing that we want to try is to light up and release the 孔明灯 （sky lantern). This is definitely pretty new to us and not available here. :-)

Coincidentally, my colleague PK, is also going back to visit his family and friends during the same period. Will meet up with him in Taipei, properly his 老家 (hometown) in 金山 （Jinshan). :-) Hope that we will not inconvenience him too much.

My daughter requested to have her own luggage for the trip. We are sourcing a practical and nice one for her. She enjoys pulling it along. But I am sure we will be the one taking care of it for her throughout the trip :-( The weather is going to be warm and we will have a lighter luggage. Warm clothing take up much space. Most importantly is not to rush at every point of visit. It can be very tiring and make it less enjoyable.
 

Mr Diana

I am not a hardcore follower of Hong Kong's drama series. Dun mind watching it especially if the story is interesting + good actors/actresses. One of my favorite titles is "Mr Diana" (先生贵性) produced in 1999. Watched it many years ago when I shifted to my present home after marriage. To learn more about the story, you can click here.

Why I enjoy the drama ?
(1) It is a touching love story;
(2) Both the actor and actress had done very well;
(3) Reasonable story line with some unexpected ending and
(4) Very nice song.

I think the drama also brought out an interesting aspect of relationship between any 2 persons, ie most of the time cannot be fully explained or account for. Impossible can end up possible while what it seems possible can turn into impossible. Chinese termed it as fate (缘份). Ha...ha...ha...

I hope to collect the title and have been sourcing for its VCD or DVD version a few years locally and in HK but not successful. It's a bit strange to me as there are many older titles than Mr Diana available in store except this particular one. Not even online. Pretty disappointing. :-(

It's fate (缘份) ba. Ha...ha...ha...

Budget airline and air tickets

Started to plan my June overseas trip a few weeks ago. Going to Taipei and Kaohisung for the food, shopping and books, free & easy arrangement. First thing first is to confirm air tickets. We dun quite enjoy package tour and din really consider the option at all.

Since my daughter is older now, I went for the budget airline as my first choice and zoom into Jetstar's pricing. Not too bad, S$1,300+ for three persons (including all taxes) and the timings for both inbound and outbound were great as well. However, I did not reserve any bookings as I could not confirm a date yet. A week later, a similar search returned with a new pricing, as expected but S$1,900+ for three persons. I dun think it is a good idea to pay S$600 more for nothing extra in return.

Adjusted my search to also include all usual airlines. Initial results showed that I would be paying about the same price as Jetstar. Tough still high but at least I could enjoy more service for the extra S$500 to S$600. Again, I din make any reservation. Continue to monitor the prices over 1 to 2 weeks and found a Maybank promotion traveling by Cathay Pacific. S$1,500+ for three persons via Hong Kong. The timings options were pretty good too. Decided to check Jetstar again and it is still quoting me at S$1,900+. Finally made the reservation 3 days ago and got my eTickets today.

Budget Airline does not necessary mean cheaper traveling. If it is not offering the best possible value air ticket, then why called itself a budget airline. Something seems to be pretty wrong in its business operation. In fact, the price is slight more expensive than SQ pricing.

Ha...ha...ha... it sounds like a joke to me. Emm....I am sure it is a joke but not for me - for Jetstar.

Air tickets settled, next will be the planning of the accommodation and programme for the entire 9 days, 8 nights trip. The fun part of going for a free & easy traveling is that we get to decide what we want to do and enjoy, day and night :-)

Tyre Pancit

We decided to stop the car and to check the source of the funny sound. It seemed coming from the back of the car. Actually, we hit over an object earlier and it is better to check if the tyre is still fine. We alighted, checked and discovered a flatted tyre in front near to the driver seat. :-( It's showtime.

We moved the car to the road side, took out the brand new tool set and a much smaller new spare tyre. We tried to understand how to use the jack to lift the car up. Luckily, Dennis was around to "lend" his weigh to loosen the 4 very tight screws. We were also luckily enough that it was not raining cats and dogs at the moment. However, it was a sweaty experience especially for Dennis. We had chicken rice for lunch earlier and I am sure much of it has been converted into energy. What we needed then was cold drinks too.

Slowly, Zhen Yi drove the car to another nearby petrol station to change it. The spare tyre is not meant to be used as running tyre but to facilitate the driver to a workshop to get it changed. Once we reached the workshop, it was time for Zhen Yi to sweat though we were all under a roof - how much is the new tyre going to cost me ?

So, what did we learn from this tyre pancit experience ?

(1) Spare tyre and the tool kit are important part of the car. Without them, we have no way to temp fix it. Of course, we could call for help but that is going to cost more. Take good care of the spare tyre and make sure that the tool kit is in good working condition.

(2) Teamwork is everything. It could be very stressful to deal with it alone especially if it is dark at night and raining heavily.

(3) When we have nothing much to do while waiting for the new tyre, we could play mahjong through bluetooth using the iPhone together. However, the system is not very stable and slow. We have to re-connect a few times as we played.

(4) Buy 4D to see if the lucky star could strike again but positively this time round.

A witness had taken a photo for your judgement, guess who is the culprit(s) ?

Ha...ha...ha...